Bottle drier



13, 1941. A. W. GOODWHN BOTTLE DRIER Filed Feb. 27, 1939 Patented May13, 1941 UNITED STATS PATENT 1 Claim.

My invention relates to a bottle drier.

Bottles are frequently chilled by placing them in a container filledwith ice water, or surrounded by ice which ultimately melts and wets thebottles. In soft drink parlors, saloons and the like, bottles areusually dried with towels before being served. The drying process istime consuming and entails the expense of laundering the towels, andnecessitates having an ample supply of towels on hand.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved bottle drier, whichis also adapted for drying other containers, by which bottles may bewiped dry in a convenient, simple and expeditious manner.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription.

In general my invention contemplates the provision of a frame over whicha plurality of sheets of rubber, or other suitable elastic material, arestretched to form a plurality of contiguous diaphragms. Each diaphragmis provided with a hole, the lower diaphragms having holes progressivelylarger in diameter.

It has been suggested in the prior art to provide a single diaphragmmade of rubber or the like, provided with a hole through which thebottle may be pulled. I have found that a single diaphragm will notoperate to wipe a bottle dry. Even two diaphragms will not completelydry the bottle, though two diaphragms will remove a good portion of themoisture. With three diaphragms the bottle is wiped substantially dry.The use of four diaphragms renders it somewhat diflicult to pull thebottle through the openings in the diaphragms.

In the accompanying drawing which forms part of the instantspecification and is to be read in conjunction therewith, and in whichlike reference numerals are used to indicate like parts in the variousviews;

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a bottle drier showing one embodiment ofmy invention attached to a wall.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the bottle drier shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the bottle drier shown in Fig. 1, showinga bottle in dotted line being pulled therethrough.

Referring now to the drawing, a plurality of iaphragms I, 2 and 3, arestretched across an outer frame 4 and an inner frame 5. The diaphragmsare made out of rubber or any other suitable material. The frames A and5 may be of any suitable material and of any desired shape. The partsare held in assembled position by means of a plurality of bolts 6 andnuts I. A bottle opener 8 may be secured by one of the bolts 6 to theoutside of frame 6. The uppermost diaphragm l is provided with a centralopening 9. The diaphragm 2 is provided with an opening It], slightlylarger in diameter than the opening 9. The lowermost diaphragm 3 isprovided with an opening ii, slightly larger in diameter than openingIll. The three diaphragms present a stepped opening, as can-readily beseen by reference to Fig. 2.

A bracket I2 is secured to the assembly by means of a pair of the bolts6, and is provided with openings 13 for the reception of screws i iadapted to maintain the assembly to any suitable wall l5, which may beon the outside of a container full of cracked ice, ice water and thebottles which are to be served.

In use, the neck of the bottle is passed through the openings 9, iii andi i, and then pulled through the drying assembly. The placing of thethree diaphragms contiguously or immediately adjacent to each otherpermits them to co-act in the wiping operation in a manner not obtainedby spacing them apart. This simultaneous wiping effect of the threelayers of flexible material is indicated in the dotted lines in Fig. 3,which shows a bottle passing through the holes of the expandeddiaphragms. The bottle may be then served to the customer in a clean,dry state.

It will be readily understood that the flexibility of the rubber is suchthat bottles of varying size may be dried with one device.

It will be seen that I have accomplished the objects of my invention. Ihave provided a simple and inexpensive bottle drier which is conenientand efficient in use.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of myclaim. It is further obvious that various changes may be made in detailswithin the scope of my claims without departing from the spirit of myinvention. It is, therefore, to be understood that my invention is notto be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a bottle drier, a frame, three sheets of elastic sheet materialsupported by said frame forming contiguous continuous diaphragms, eachof said diaphragms being provided with a central circular opening, saidopenings being concentric, the opening in the middle diaphragm beinglarger than the opening in one of the outside diaphragms, and smallerthan the opening in the other outside diaphragm, the diameters of theopenings and the positioning of the diaphragms being such that theyco-act to simultaneously wipe the surface of bottles drawn therethrough.

ARTHUR W. GOODWIN.

